Reverence, My Ass!
That wasn’t reverence. That was the eyes of a hunter staring at prey.
No wonder they’d suddenly rolled out the red carpet after looking at me with such overwhelming intensity. The moment they brought me into the village, they’d practically shoved me into a tent and turned me into a healer on a medical service trip.
“Ugh……”
“It hurts. My stomach’s growling.”
I’d only shown off my abilities a little because I wanted to brag about my growth to my sister, and somehow I’d ended up playing doctor for the entire village.
“No! I can’t do anything about stomachaches!”
People lined up to show me their wounds, and I had to treat them with a face like I’d bitten into shit.
The injuries ranged from palms scraped deep against trees and oozing pus, to foreheads gashed so badly bone was visible, to thighs torn open by beast bites where chunks of flesh had been ripped away.
That was because Undain’s magic could only heal external wounds.
They were grateful, but I was the kind of person who didn’t have a shred of volunteer spirit even if I were starving to death. Instead of feeling rewarded, I only felt irritation piling up.
If you don’t want to hurt, don’t get hurt in the first place!
And don’t come to me!
……If I actually screamed that, I’d look like a total psycho, so I had to hold it in.
It was the truth, but there was no need to broadcast it to the world.
‘This is why the old folks left behind that famous saying about not showing off too much power.’
I wasn’t the only one who was unhappy.
“Kyaaahaha!”
“Rai! I told you to behave.”
[……Ugh, these little rat-droppings keep climbing all the way on top of my head!]
“Don’t bite them. It’ll be annoying if the number of patients increases.”
While I was unintentionally doing volunteer work, Rai had become the children’s personal playground.
The adults were scared of Rai and wouldn’t come near, but the kids innocently clambered all over the wolf and played wildly.
It was only after my mana ran completely dry that I was finally freed from the endless parade of patients. When I turned around, Rai’s entire body was covered in countless braids with ribbons tied everywhere.
There was even a flower necklace.
“You look kind of cute?”
[I’m done with you.]
“I’m serious.”
How could a wolf have such expressive faces?
I lightly tapped the face of a very sulky, puffed-up Rai and stood up.
When I stepped out of the tent, a fairly large pile of various fruits and butchered meat that the patients had left as thanks was stacked up.
“Don’t tell me I have to do this crap again tomorrow?”
The sudden worry hit me.
Healing magic was considered quite an advanced technique even among water magic. It consumed a lot of mana and caused considerable mental fatigue.
I planned to stay in this village for a few days and wanted to maintain a good relationship, but given my personality, doing volunteer work every single day was impossible.
“Jeanie!”
“Sister.”
I was picking up a fruit to eat because I was hungry when my sister returned. She looked quite happy about wherever she’d been.
“You worked hard. Thank you, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve done this kind of labor.”
“The villagers say they’re going to throw a feast for you. They’re busy preparing it right now. You have no idea how grateful they all are to you.”
“Of course they should be grateful. I’m extremely high-quality labor.”
I was never one for humility.
And I was a Spirit Master, not a healer. The people of this village clearly didn’t understand the difference.
“We tend to be rather closed-off, so welcoming outsiders like this is truly rare.”
“After working me this hard, they’d better welcome me.”
“Hehe, you really haven’t changed.”
“There will be meat, right?”
“Of course! Before the feast starts, I’ll show you around the village.”
I bit into the fruit and followed my sister.
The sun had already begun to set. It was the perfect time for evening.
The village wasn’t very large, but it was well-organized and looked strong against outside invasion.
High walls stood here and there, and watchtowers were visible.
Everywhere I looked, well-maintained weapons hung ready, making sure I didn’t forget that this place was deep inside a savage jungle.
Even though it somehow felt peaceful and leisurely at first glance.
“Now that I think about it, where’s your daughter? Was she one of the kids playing with Rai earlier?”
“That child is very shy, so she’s hiding.”
“Hmm.”
I’d named both the snake I used to raise and the wolf I was raising now Rai, but Anelia accepted it with surprising ease.
Did I really come across as that sloppy of a person?
She knows me so well!
“Oh, right. I was going to ask earlier—who’s the child’s father?”
“Didn’t I tell you?”
“You said something about him being from the mercenary group.”
She’d said she quit the mercenary group right after parting with me and returned to her hometown. Based on that, the child’s father was most likely someone from the Shabel Mercenaries.
Someone I knew…….
“Who do you think? It’s Kenta. Do you remember?”
“Pffft.”
The fruit I’d been enjoying suddenly tasted terrible. I spat it out and frantically wiped my mouth.
Did she just say Kenta?
[Kenta?!]
“Kenta, you said?”
Both Rai and I desperately wanted to pretend we hadn’t heard that.
Buying unhearing ears!
“Yes. He was good to you, wasn’t he?”
“Hahaha, I don’t think there was anyone like that.”
“Did you really erase Kenta from your memory?”
It was a fact I wanted to deny.
That Kenta—the one who proudly showed off his ignorant muscles, constantly flexing, and fought power struggles with Rai every single day!
“Of course I remember. You mean that habitual offender who tried to eat Rai.”
“He was a bit mischievous. But snakes are meant to be eaten, Jeanie.”
When someone from a jungle tribe said that, I couldn’t argue.
[……P-please tell her wolves aren’t eaten.]
Rai suddenly trembled in fear and quickly distanced himself from Anelia.
“Your taste in men is really…… unique, sister.”
I knew I shouldn’t comment on someone else’s preferences, but this was quite the shock.
No matter how I looked at it, I felt bad for my sister.
At my negative reaction, Anelia let out a low laugh as if she understood perfectly and brushed back her hair fluttering in the wind.
“Of course Kenta wasn’t the most handsome man in the world.”
“I’m glad you know that.”
“It’s true he had a few pathetic sides.”
It was a beautiful moment as the sun set, and the forest was always filled with wind carrying the scent of leaves.
And within that scene, explaining just how cool, strong, beautiful, and dazzling my sister looked with her silver hair dancing in the wind would be an endless task.
Anelia had always been like that.
She was the kind of person who stole everyone’s attention just by existing, like a wild beast.
“But he was truly devoted to me.”
“……That’s not a good enough reason! Everyone in the mercenary group was devoted to you! Even ten-year-old me knew that the entire group was full of your followers!”
“That’s true.”
In the Shabel Mercenaries, Anelia had been everyone’s Anelia, everyone’s object of admiration.
It was human instinct to be drawn to someone strong and beautiful.
All the men had been desperate to look good in her eyes.
But Anelia hadn’t paid the slightest attention to any of it, and I still clearly remembered how impressive that had looked to my young eyes.
And yet!
Out of all those many men, the one she chose was the biggest muscle-brain I knew! That guy probably had muscles for brains too!
Anyway, to put it nicely he was extremely simple, and to put it honestly he was a bit stupid. How on earth he had captured my sister’s heart remained one of the greatest mysteries of all time.
“But you can’t choose everyone, can you?”
“I don’t get it. Why did it have to be Kenta?”
“Hmm, deciding on Kenta felt completely natural. He risked his life for me like an idiot multiple times.”
“Tsk, what a tough life he has.”
I crossed my arms and clicked my tongue. Rai nodded his head vigorously in agreement.
Anelia laughed loudly, then placed a hand on my shoulder, pulled me close, and asked affectionately. Half-embracing me, almost like a whisper.
“Jeanie, do you really dislike Kenta that much?”
“No matter who you brought, I’d feel like it was a waste of you!”
“Thank you. It makes me happy that you like me so much.”
I knew I was acting childish. I just didn’t like that my sister had ended up with someone I didn’t particularly like.
If she’d brought the emperor, I probably would’ve hated it because his power might burden her. If she brought a rich man, I’d hate it because he had too much money.
No matter who she brought, I’d feel like it was a waste of her.
After all, I was one of her most passionate followers too.
“Now that I think about it, something feels off……”
“What is it?”
“You’re here, your daughter’s here, but where’s Kenta?”
“Who knows? He’s probably living well on his own somewhere.”
“Huh?”
“Kenta probably doesn’t even know he has a daughter.”
Excuse me. Sister, that doesn’t seem like something you should be saying with a casual “hehe” like it’s someone else’s business.
Only then did I realize with lightning clarity what the sense of discomfort I’d been feeling was.
Come to think of it, this village only had women.
The elderly patient who came earlier had been a grandmother, and among the children who were playing and joking around, I hadn’t seen a single boy.
“I didn’t notice before…… but is your tribe only women?”
“Not exactly, but it’s a very strong matriarchal society. When boys are born we raise them, but once they become adults, they all run away from the village.”
“Whoa.”
“Is it because the women are too strong? Since there aren’t enough men left, what else can we do? To continue the bloodline, we go outside and hunt for men.”
“H-hunt?”
The cultural shock was so massive that I was rendered speechless.